Monemvasia Castle

Monemvasia is a fortress-city built on a great rock rising some 100 metres above the sea, connected to the mainland by a single narrow causeway; its name means "one way". Founded in 583 during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Maurice, it was settled by refugees fleeing the Slavic and Avar invasions of Greece. From the tenth century it grew into a major trading port, surviving Arab and Norman attacks in 1147. William II of Villehardouin took it in 1248 after a three-year siege, but it was returned to the Byzantines in 1262 as part of his ransom. It later passed through Venetian, Ottoman and brief Venetian again, finally being liberated in 1821. The medieval walls and many Byzantine churches survive, and the houses, built of sturdy masonry with vaulted domes and cisterns, remain in remarkably good condition.